


Cirrus, Socrates, Particle

by PancakeBeast



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: GDOV tag selected just in case descriptions of results of violence count, Gen, MCD tag for Father, Sole Survivor with a name, Spoilers, The Nuclear Option, The Railroad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-18
Updated: 2015-12-18
Packaged: 2018-05-07 11:25:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5454869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PancakeBeast/pseuds/PancakeBeast
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Almost immediately after completion of The Nuclear Option.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cirrus, Socrates, Particle

After giving a parting hug to Shaun—the little boy she saw no reason not to think of as Shaun—Victoria remained on one knee in front of him.  Thus far, every time she spoke to him, she felt tears welling in her eyes.  Whether the tears came from grief for the Shaun she'd given birth to or happiness that, in some way, he had a second chance, she didn't know.  It was both, of course.

"Everyone's going to be really, really busy around here," she explained to her boy.  "But they'll keep you safe.  I'm going to be really busy too, out there, but I'll be thinking of you all the time."  The tears began to spill over and she hugged him again.

"Why are you crying, mom?"  His arms went around her, as much as they could, pushing his hands underneath the postman's bag at her back, and he hugged as tight as he could.

"It's just...been..."  Victoria tried to swallow the lump in her throat.  "A hard day.  A lot of people died today, and a lot of people need new homes.  There's a _lot_ of work to do.  A lot of work I have to do."

"Are you going to be gone for a long time?"  The subtleties Victoria could hear in Shaun's voice assured her again that he was real in all the ways that counted.  He was doing his best to be brave, but he was afraid and uncertain.  His home had been destroyed.  No doubt he'd seen blood on the pristine white surfaces and glass panes of that home as he fled.  Bodies, too: mangled by all kinds of ballistics and energy blasts, some of the dead human eyes wide open, the Gen-2 synth eyes still glowing and some even tracking his passage.  It had been a small warzone, and neither Shaun nor any of the human children who lived in the Institute should have had to see it, much less be in the middle of it.  But war never changes.

There might have been children on the Prydwen too.  Had that been yesterday?  Had she slept between blowing up the Prydwen and blowing up the Institute?

The former entirety of Shaun's world had been blown up today and all he had left was his mother, and she had to go.  She was gently honest with him: "I'll try to be back in a few days.  It might be a week.  I probably won't be able to stay long when I do get back."  Finally, she could be honest with...her son.  (All those white lies she told the other Shaun...  The bitterness in his last words to her, the betrayal, the thinly-veiled despair...  It haunted her.  She feared that years from now, in her own final moments, she'd see nothing but his face.)

She hastened to add, "But as soon as possible, I'm going to get someone to take you to a place called Sanctuary.  That's going to be our home.  I— I set up a room for you, the same room—...that—...that was always supposed to be yours."  His grip had yet to loosen, though his arms almost quivered with the effort of maintaining it (perhaps his muscles were constructed to emulate a child's strength, or perhaps the limitation was in his programming).

Shaun was quiet for a moment.  Then, with sadness and hope and resolve, he let go and said, "I want to live there, but I want to stay here until you can live there too.  So I can see you when you come back here."

"Okay," Victoria nodded.  "Just...if Desdemona or Tom or Dr. Carrington or—"  Glory, she almost said.  "—or Drummer...  Listen to them if they tell you to do anything, okay?  They're my friends, and they're going to protect you."  She could be sure of that.  Shaun was a synth _and_ a child _and_ her son.

"Okay," Shaun affirmed quietly.

Victoria released Shaun and then gave her face a cursory wipe with a relatively clean portion of her sleeve.  "Okay," she repeated.


End file.
